


like a thought brushing up against a sigh

by amaltheaz



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen, Violence, but it definitely would have been awesome if the episode ended like this, inspired by a tumblr post, not at all shippy but if you really really squint then maybe, not really a fix it, so there is, this is the fight scene between Supergirl and Reign, trigger warning for mentions of blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 08:10:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12931125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaltheaz/pseuds/amaltheaz
Summary: "He can feel his shield, so close within his grasp but James can't move. His eyes are glued to the battle that rages in front of him, in front of everyone. His vision is clear while the rest of him dulls down as if all his energy is focused into making sure that he sees everything. And he does, he does. He sees the way that Kara’s breathing is choked up in her chest, the way she stumbles with unsteady steps, the way she bleeds. Oh god, she’sbleeding."Inspired by this post





	like a thought brushing up against a sigh

**Author's Note:**

> So like... This is weird for me, haha. I've never written anything that I could classify as a gen fic. Though my wife tells me that she had OT3 feels while reading it and I guess if you can see it, that's cool. How are y'all doing after that episode? It was pretty tough for me to watch and I've just been reading through fluffy stories to get me through.
> 
> As you can see from the summary, this was inspired by a post on tumblr. At first, I was just hoping that somebody else would write it because I have so many things to work on but it just wouldn't leave me alone so I decided to write it anyway. I wrote this in one go and have changed some things around from the post but I hope it's still just as good. 
> 
> I hope you're all having a good week, <333

It's brutal, watching somebody you love getting hurt. It isn't something that should ever be demanded of us when the pain tears into our chest and makes us bleed and our veins  _ scream _ for us to do something to make it better, for us to  _ heal _ .

He can feel his shield, so close within his grasp but James can't move. His eyes are glued to the battle that rages in front of him, in front of everyone. His vision is clear while the rest of him dulls down as if all his energy is focused into making sure that he sees everything. And he does, he does. He sees the way that Kara’s breathing is choked up in her chest, the way she stumbles with unsteady steps, the way she bleeds. Oh god, she’s  _ bleeding _ . 

And there is something about watching a being that so many perceive to be a god, to see their mortality so bright and vivid in front of their eyes. It's a sobering lesson to realize that no being lasts forever and it's one that he never seems to have learned despite having seen Superman bloodied and battle-weary so many times before. 

_ Look out for her.  _

Clark said this to him before he left for National City, in th _ e _ dead of night after the farewell party that they threw for him at the Daily Planet. His whole body was warm from the bottle of scotch that Lois shared with him and his chest was tight with all the love he felt for his friends that he was leaving. Clark with his beautiful, solemn blue eyes, so achingly similar to Kara’s sometimes, made him promise, made him  _ swear _ that he’d look out for her. 

He thinks about that night in times like these, when Kara is fighting against the most impossible of odds and there’s no end in sight. No possible end where she comes out of this unbroken and safe and god, there is so much  _ blood _ . 

Lena gasps beside him when the alien - Reign, he remembers Winn telling him -  _ stomps _ her foot on Kara’s chest and he flinches in sympathy, knowing exactly how much force there has to be to steal the wind from Kara’s lungs. “Somebody needs to stop this.” Lena’s voice trembles but he can hear the determination behind it and he glances over to see the tight clench of her jaw, the angry steel in her eyes. It strikes a tendril of fear inside him when he thinks of how it reminds him of Lex from many years ago. 

He grabs hold of her arm, to bring her back, to reassure her, to keep her right next to him. It seems to shake her out of whatever it is that's going through her mind and she looks back at him. He shakes his head. “Alex is already on the way. We just have to make sure that nobody else gets in the line of fire.” 

Lena frowns, her green eyes darting around them. He’s not sure what she’s looking for but there's an agitation that's anxious and prevalent in the way she shuffles her feet and how she keeps pocketing her hands in her coat and taking them out before putting them back in again. “It’ll be too late by the time they get here, Jimmy. There  _ has _ to be something that we can do.”

As Kara slowly walks towards Reign, her steps so agonizingly heavy that they make the roads tremor, he knows that there’s a big part of him that agrees with Lena. He sees it in her eyes, the want, the need to do  _ something _ and it reflects the burning in his chest. And there's a modicum of guilt for all the things that he said about her when she first came to National City because she is none of the things that he believed a Luthor to be, but more than that, she is  _ better _ . It's a truth that’s thick to swallow and too much to unpack with no real time to do so. So he pushes it to the back of his mind and gently squeezes her arm for all the unuttered apologies he promises himself he'll say to her once this is all over. “We  _ can't _ fight her, Lena. She is  _ too _ strong.” 

She’s shaking her head as he reaches up to pull at his tie, loosening the knot. James looks around the streets and thinks of how the Christmas decorations look so out of place now, like this isn't where they're supposed to be. He stares at the crowd milling around, close enough to see the fight.  _ Too _ close. “Look, we just- Supergirl will want us to get everybody away from here,” he finally says and Lena only shakes her head once again, her disbelief so plain to see. And before he can say anything more to convince her to stay, a scorching laser of heat vision pierces through the air and there's a cacophony of gasps from the crowds that stand nearby, watching helplessly as Supergirl suffers the brunt of it.

He doesn't know how many times he can bear to see Kara falling like this, crashing and hurling towards the earth and there's nothing that can stop her. Everybody’s holding their breath as if something will change, as if somebody will come and save her, and he thinks of Clark. He wonders where he is and if he can see the live broadcast of all that's happening right now, wonders if he can make it in time. But it's too hopeful a thought for a hopeless moment and there's a loud boom when Kara finally hits the ground, a crater forming around her lifeless body. 

_ Look out for her.  _

His phone is vibrating in his pocket and he thinks about who it could be but he's too afraid to check. Too afraid if it ends up being Lois or Clark. Oh god, too afraid for it to be Alex. Sirens are blaring in the air and he can hear them coming closer and closer. Ambulance sirens, and he almost wants to laugh because with all their good intentions, they can't help Kara. 

A chill goes through him when he realizes that Lena isn’t next to him anymore. “Lena?” He doesn't want to, god he really doesn't but he  _ knows _ exactly where he needs to look to know where she is. When he finally does find the courage to do so, he finds himself watching in horror as Lena Luthor runs to Supergirl, runs to  _ Kara _ . And he goes to run too, starts to follow her when he realizes that Reign is flying down from where she threw Kara off - most likely to finish what she started - but Lena  _ doesn't stop running _ even though it's plain to see that she knows Reign is coming in close. “Lena, no!” he screams in the vain hope that it’ll make her stop but it only makes her go faster. 

She’s closer to the crater now and his breath catches in his throat as she looks over Kara for the briefest of moments before she turns and all the world quiets down and time slows, boiling down to a series of actions. 

Lena’s feet widening in their stance and James can hear the clear scrape of her heels on the asphalt. 

Her hands curl into tight fists, resting on her hips. 

His heart stops when Lena’s chin tilts upwards in defiance. 

The wrathful steel is back in her eyes and this time it reminds James so much of Kara instead, and he can't help but feel a fire ignite in his chest at the sight of her. 

He lets out a shaky breath when Reign stops mid-flight. There's no trace of fury in her face but he can tell that she's curious by Lena’s actions. She doesn't seem to react much to the way that Lena positions herself against her and he wishes that he could call Lena back to him because god, this is literally an alien who had just ruthlessly took down  _ Supergirl _ and he shudders to think of what she could do to Lena. James looks to Kara behind her, her body so still and unmoving, her breathing weak and her eyes closed and his heart just  _ breaks _ at seeing her like this. He doesn't want this for Lena and he  _ hates _ how much it scares him and how much he wishes that he can save them both.

“I have no quarrel with you,” she tells Lena as if it would persuade Lena of her intentions. 

Lena doesn't even move, only gives her the kind of deadly glare he’s only ever seen her give Morgan Edge. He finds himself shaking at seeing it, hoping that he'll never see himself at the end of that glare. “You hurt my friend, which means I have one with  _ you _ .”

There's a restless spark that runs through James’ fingers, a spark that he recognizes so easily because it's so achingly familiar, a spark he hasn't felt in the longest time, since Kara first came out as Supergirl. There’s that tight ache in his chest for the camera that he lost the year before as James reaches for his phone instead. It’ll have to do for now. 

And as he takes a picture of the scene in front of him, of Lena Luthor with the swell of her coat billowing in the wind, ready to fight and defend Supergirl, the cousin of her brother’s enemy, tomorrow’s CatCo front page headline strikes him like lightning.

**_Luthor Stands for Super_ **

\--- 

  
_I believe you keep fighting. Whether you're stuck on another world, whether or not you have your powers, you never give in._ - Kara Danvers (Supergirl Lives)

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr @maybewritnigthings. My main is @amaltheaz.


End file.
